West Greene used a fast start and consistent pitching to carry it to a 4-2 victory over county rival South Greene on Tuesday night, picking up an ever-important District 1-2A win on Tuesday night.
One of the Buffaloes biggest problems halfway through the season has been starting games better. Slow starts have plagued them all year and forced them to play from behind. They fixed that issue on Tuesday night with a pair of two-run innings in the first two innings to create a 4-0 lead. Those runs were all they could manage in the seven-inning contest, but it ended up being just enough.
“Great pitching. Great defense. Loved the way we started out the game offensively. We got two in the first and second. The third inning we got first and second on with no outs and we couldn’t convert anything and didn’t make it farther than that. That’s kind of the story of the rest of the game,” Buffaloes head coach Adrian Sauceman said.
Conner Campbell showed up and delivered another quality outing with seven innings of five-hit, two-run baseball with nine strikeouts. He went 1-for-4 in the leadoff spot on offense.
“Conner threw a great game. He ended up with nine strikeouts and no walks. Spotless game by him,” Sauceman expressed.
The Buffaloes only needed six hits and four runs to get the job done. South Greene outplayed them on the scoreboard and in the hit column through the final five innings, the Rebels but could not gain enough momentum to overcome their early deficit. While West Greene’s defense played a clean game, South Greene’s defense had some troubles fielding things cleanly and came only a few inches away from making a couple crucial plays that could’ve changed the outcome.
The Rebels threw Tyler Davis on the mound and he compiled a solid stat line of six innings, six hits, three earned runs, and six strikeouts. He collected a hit at the plate also.
West Greene’s record improved to 11-4 (4-2) and South Greene’s dropped to 2-14 (2-5).
Conner Campbell produced a three-up, three-down first inning with a pair of strikeouts. When the Buffs got up to bat Jayden Cox drew a walk and Kaven Greene was hit by a pitch to put two aboard with one out. Braden McCamey sent a line drive directly down the middle for an RBI-single that scored Cox. Jhonen Bath popped up to center field, but it resulted in a sacrifice fly when Greene tagged up from third to score next.
West Greene led 2-0 after one inning.
Another two-strikeout inning for Campbell kept the Rebels off the scoreboard again and set West Greene up for another fruitful frame. Ethan Carpenter got the first hit with a single to right field that was very reminiscent and identical to his walk off hit from Friday night. When the lineup circled back around, Cox drew a five-pitch walk. Kaven Greene sent a pop up over shortstop and landed safely for an RBI-single to score Carpenter. Cox crossed home plate safely on the next at bat on a throwing error committed by South Greene.
The Buffaloes now led 4-0 after two, but the Rebels drew closer with a two-run third.
After picking up back-to-back outs to start the inning, Campbell hit Zach Mason on the elbow in a two-strike count to put a runner aboard. Brendon Lisenby singled to and put two on the base path. Colby Brooks mashed a powerful two-run double into the left center field gap to score both Mason and Lisenby to make it a 4-2 game.
They wouldn’t seriously threaten West Greene’s lead again, but would gain four more hits the rest of the way.
The Buffs collected back-to-back hits to open up the bottom half but fell on three-straight outs to end the inning. South Greene gained one hit in the fourth, but it went nowhere. The next hit of the game didn’t come until the sixth inning when Brooks singled to lead off. A sac bunt moved him into scoring position, but he couldn’t get any further as the inning ended on a long fly out.
West Greene threatened with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom sixth, but a long fly out ended the inning. Zach Mason saved the inning with an incredible diving catch in center field to snag the out. A potential bases clearing triple could’ve been the result if the catch had not been made.
The Rebels had one last chance to tie the game, but used all three of their last outs in succession to end the game.
West Greene took game one of the series 4-2. Game two will be played on Wednesday at 3:30 at South Greene High School.
“You’ve got to go out and get it. They’re not going to lay down and roll over for you, especially not on their home field. We’ve been in that position a few times before and we go out there and have a lackluster effort and try to just coast through it, I guess. You can’t do that against good teams or anybody in the district. We’ve got to come out with the right attitude and try to get after it. Hopefully good pitching and good defense again and hopefully get the offense figured out,” Sauceman explained.
Six different players accounted for West Greene’s six hits. Jayden Cox provided two runs and two walks to lead the team in both categories.
Colby Brooks led South Greene with two hits and two RBIs. He went 2-for-3 with the two RBIs.
